Unique Personnel (UK) Limited Brent

Updated 19 March 2020

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

The service has a new manager who has not yet registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). They told us they would apply to register with us when they had completed their probationary period. This means that the provider is legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced. We gave the service two working days’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 30 January 2020 when we visited the agency’s office location and ended 21 February 2020, when we gathered feedback via telephone calls from people using the service and their relatives.

What we did before the inspection

Before the inspection we looked at information we held about the service. This information included any statutory notifications that the provider had sent to the CQC. Statutory notifications include information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. Other information we reviewed included the previous inspection report. This information helps support our inspections. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections.

During the inspection

We spoke with the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We also spoke with the manager, care coordinator, field care supervisor, human resource and quality assurance member of staff and three care staff. We reviewed a variety of records which related to people's individual care and the running of the service. These records included care files of six people using the service, five staff employment records, quality monitoring records and some policies.

Following our visit to the provider’s office we contacted people using the service, their relatives and healthcare and social care professionals. We received feedback about the service from three healthcare and social care professionals, four people and eight relatives.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. The manager supplied us with details of action they had taken to address the deficiencies we found in some record keeping. We also looked at some policies.

Updated 19 March 2020

About the service

Unique Personnel (UK) Limited Brent is a domiciliary care service that provides personal care and support to people in their own homes, some of whom live with dementia. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection there were 43 people receiving care.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Systems and processes for overseeing and checking the quality of the service provided to people were not always robust and effective. Shortfalls in record keeping had not been identified by management.

People and relatives were happy with the staff who they told us were kind and caring. The care and support people received was personalised and met their individual needs and preferences.

People, and where applicable their relatives were fully involved in the assessment, planning and review of their care. People mostly received care from regular care staff who were knowledgeable about their care needs.

People received the support they needed to take their medicines.

People and relatives told us that staff usually arrived on time and always stayed for the duration of the planned call. The agency was flexible and responsive when people needed to change the times of visits.

Staff understood their responsibility to protect people in their care from abuse and report any concerns they had. They knew how to recognise and report any concerns they had about people's safety and welfare.

Systems were in place to make sure there were enough suitable staff to carry out care visits. Staff received the support, training and guidance they needed to provide people with personalised care.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

The provider had systems in place to manage and resolve complaints. People and relatives knew how to make a complaint and told us issues to do with the service had been addressed.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Good (published 12 September 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.